 Skate
Today has teamed up with Barry Mittan to provide you an insight into
the personalities of the people in this wonderful sport and to give
you a more personal connection when you watch them on television or
see them at an event. Mr. Mittan is the author or editor of several
books and hundreds of figure skating articles. All of Barry's stories
are reviewed by the skaters, and their coaches or others if requested,
before publication to ensure the greatest accuracy.
All current
articles and many previous articles may be read in their entirety by
following the links below. Mr. Mittan retains all copyrights for these
articles and they may not be reproduced without permission. Please visit
www.jbmittan.com for more details.
Archived Articles
2008
January - March 2008
2007
2006
2005
2004 |
February 20, 2010
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 This will be the last season of competitive skating for five-time U.S. ice dancing champions, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. The skaters have earned a raft of accolades during their careers with silver medals at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, the 2005 and 2009 World Figure Skating Championships and two ISU Grand Prix Finals. They won the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships three times, the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2002, the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in 2001-02, and nine Grand Prix events.
Belbin and Agosto will compete in their second Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada this month. “We plan to attend the opening ceremonies and stay until the end of the figure skating events, but are undecided about attending the closing ceremony,” Belbin said. “This will definitely be our last Olympic Games.”
But the dancers currently plan to continue competing until the end of the season and finish out their careers at Worlds. |
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February 11, 2010
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Christina Gao finished fifth in senior ladies at U. S. Nationals with a score of 156.53, finishing fifth in both the short and long programs to make the U. S. international team.
"My goal was just to do my best at Nationals and make the Junior Worlds team," she said. "This was my first season in seniors at Nationals so I wasn't expecting to make the Olympics. I didn't have any of that pressure. I want to skate at the Olympics some day but that's far away."
Gao included a triple toe-triple toe combination, double Axel and triple flip in her short program. In her long program, Gao had three combinations including a triple toe-triple toe, triple flip-double toe-double loop, and triple Salchow-double toe. Her solo jumps included two double Axels, triple Lutz and triple flip. |
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February 04, 2010
Article by J. Barry Mittan
 Ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White won their second consecutive gold medal at U. S. Nationals last week to qualify for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in February. The dancers are the top-ranked ice dancing couple in the world this season after winning the 2009-10 ISU Grand Prix Final in December as well as two Grand Prix events in the fall.
The dancers scored a personal best 222.29 total points to best 2009 world silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto by 3.78 points.
Davis and White earned 45.42 points in the compulsory dance, the Golden Waltz.
"We've done a waltz every year for the last ten years," he added. "Waltzes come easy for us and feel very natural."
"We haven't been senior that long so we had done the Golden Waltz but not the tango," White stated. "Both the Golden Waltz and the tango are very different dances and the skating skills required are tremendous, but we're comfortable with the steps." |
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